John Pius was a solid starter for William & Mary last season. Now, the linebacker has ‘arrived’ for the No. 14 Tribe.
John Pius has arrived, and it is no exaggeration to say few defensive players in William & Mary football history have announced their presence as sensationally.
That’s saying something considering lightning also struck at Zable Stadium a year ago when Tribe defensive end Nate Lynn emerged from obscurity to become a first-team Associated Press FCS All-American. Pius’ rise to stardom at outside linebacker has been inspired by and instructed by Lynn’s single-season school-record 12 sacks and six forced fumbles last year.
But Pius, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound sophomore from Arlington, is, after three spectacular performances, on pace for an even bigger season. As the Tribe (3-0) hosts Elon (2-1) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both, Pius already has 25 tackles, 10½ for loss, a national-best seven sacks and two quarterback hurries.
Lynn has been no slouch, with 16 tackles, 4½ for loss and two sacks on a defensive front that leads the nation with 14 sacks and never lets quarterbacks get comfortable. Pius gives his older teammate a share of the credit for his emergence.
“I love Nate,” Pius said. “He showed me with his great season last year that what he’s doing is not impossible.
“We talked and I picked his brain. He helped me understand how he did what he did and how I could use that to my advantage.”
None of which to say is that Pius’ jump from serviceable starter last year to star is a surprise to his coaches. Tribe defensive coordinator Vincent Brown said he and linebackers coach Darryl Blackstock have talked for years about his potential.
“I was shocked he didn’t have more going on recruiting-wise but he was a little undersized,” Brown said after Class 6 all-state pick Pius had 23 sacks and 40 tackles for loss his final two seasons at Yorktown of Arlington. “We felt he had a chance to be pretty darn good if he got in the weight room and added some size and strength.”
Pius did so after a decent redshirt freshman season a year ago, when he started 10 games, had 39 tackles, 2½ sacks and 3½ tackles for loss. Buoyed by a healthy appetite — Blackstock says he had three helpings before the 34-7 win at Lafayette last week - Pius has added about 40 pounds and weighs in at almost 235.
“His movement is just as good,” said Blackstock, a former University of Virginia standout whose seven seasons as a linebacker in the NFL included multi-year stints with the Arizona Cardinals and Cincinnati Bengals. “I like to howl that outside linebackers are the baddest dudes on the field, because we have to set the edge, play the force, rush the passer and cover at any given time.
“We knew John could rush the passer well, but he’s demonstrating he can do all three parts well.”
That demonstration included a monster outing at Lafayette of eight tackles, four for loss, 3½ sacks and a quarterback hurry that earned Pius CAA Defensive Player of the Week honors. It was almost as much fun hearing Tribe play-by-play announcer Jay Colley call the hits on air as it was watching Pius make them.
Start with the one where Pius stood up a Leopards’ ball-carrier before leveling him. “Met in the backfield, nothing doing for Jamar Curtis,” Colley said. “William & Mary said `no way, no how,’ and guess who said it? John Pius was there to make the play.”
This was Colley’s call when Pius juked a running back to sack Leopards’ quarterback Ryan Schuster untouched: “He’s dropped in the backfield and that was outboard engine John Pius.”
Later, when Schuster was sacked one of five times, Colley said, “Nate Lynn and John Pius converge. Don’t know who will get the big sack, but a big sack it was.”
“We crushed him on that play,” Pius said. “It was good to be in the backfield with Nate at the same time.”
He credits Blackstock for bolstering his belief that he could play on a level with Lynn. He hopes one day to follow Blackstock’s footsteps to the NFL with Lynn.
For now, Pius, a Public Policy and Marketing major who wants to be an FBI Special Agent after football, is literally taking it one drill at a time while not letting his sudden notoriety go to his head.
“Coach Blackstock told me last year he was happy with my play but he saw greater things,” Pius said. “I believed him.”
Blackstock said, “I tell him, `People saw you coming and now they know you’re here. So, now you’re back at Square 1 and you focus on how to do it at a higher level.
`Everyone is going to call you out, but, call it a target or a light bulb, but no one is on grass with you.’”
Except perhaps all the opponents he’s tackling.
